@hevharv

Heavygoods

Any help on catching horses who are bad to be caught? Thanks

this is so vague as it depends on your horse's personality and what they're like but i will try haha
basically make sure your body language is passive so you appear as unthreatening as possible. don't be too cautious about going to catch them like moving extremely slowly and such because it gives the horse time to actually think about running away. if your horse is being a pain in the bum you can try and drive them away, just constantly keep them moving and don't give them a chance to eat or anything so you're constantly hassling them, this way they get two choices: stay by your side and be caught, or stay in the field... but if they stay in the field, it becomes their work place. they aren't allowed to eat and they have to keep moving. this works particularly well with horses that are naturally lazy natured
just make sure that if your horse is particularly spooky you dont drive them away as it could potentially frighten them. if they have to come in for something then i'd say just take a bucket of feed with you or a couple of treats to help bribe them in. if you have a couple of days to spare, you can spend a while catching them, and then once you've got the collar on, make a fuss and let them go again. just let them know that coming in is fun and a nice thing, and when they associate with coming in from the field with good things, they'll be more than willing :)

Latest answers from Heavygoods

Yard routine?

On a weekday we feed around 8ish, it can be earlier depending if we are competing or it's going to be hot so Sam and I will get the riding done before the horses start melting, but on a normal day we just feed, rug up if any of them wear rugs and turn them out (inc DIYs because they're all assisted), muck out part/full liveries, hay nets/feeds, sweep yard and we are usually done by 10:30 at the latest so then we go for our lunch break. Come back at 3 to bring in the part/full's, put any needed lotions, potions and sprays on horses as they come in, then it's just skipping out, haying and feeding then we go home at 5pm

Saw you commenting on something on SH&P, your yard has space?! what's it like?

Yeah we actually have four boxes available at the moment but there are loooads of people coming to look about next week - our yard is beaut, we have a really nice bunch of liveries, the tea room is just fabulous and we n e v e r run out of milk, everyone is really welcoming and friendly

What are your horses fed on including supplements?

Wall's has alfalfa pellets and alfalfa light, protexin gut balancer, premier flex, seaweed & rosehip, vegetable oil and plenty of water to damp his feed down. He gets a large soaked hay net every night and has a lot of turn out
As of today Ector's having chaff, non-heating pony nuts, bute, devils claw, honey and a drizzle of molasses also watered down. He also has soaked hay 24/7 and a big bucket of graze-on ready grass at lunch time as he can't be turned out

What saddles do you ride in?

Ector was in a Stubben but as he muscled out we had to put him in a different one, he was in a Henri De Revel which was a lovely saddle
Wall's has a thorowgood dressage saddle and Kenton Masters long leg GP

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